Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Baltimore Half Marathon

I have accomplished my goal of running in and completeing a half marathon.

It was a great experience and I am looking forward to may next one. Yes I plan on running in another half marathon, but more on that later.

To recap: Friday night was the expo and it was held at M&T stadium. It was a little crazy getting down there but we made it. Upon arriving we parked in the lot and headed to the check in tent. I picked up my card and goodie bag, verified all the information was correct and proceed into the stadium to pick up my shirt and race bib. All the venders were up on the club level and I had visions of myself getting a new pair of shoes, I decided that it was a bit too crazy to try on any shoes to see what felt good and what did not. I will need to go to my local running store and take the time to try some different ones on.

So we don't spend too long at the expo as I need to get my rest. The half does not start until 9:45 however the Marathon starts at 8:00 and roads will be closed at that point and with 20,000 people participating in the event not to mention all of the volunteers, parking is going to be tight. Well it was. We drove around looking for a place to park and finaly found a spot up on a curb. We were directed to park there by on of the volunteer directing traffic.

So we arrive in plenty of time for me to gather my thoughts and make my way to the start line for the half. I have to walk a bit of a distance but that is ok as it will allow me some time to warm up and get loose, but not to warm or loose.

So I was really not sure what I was going to be capable of doing. I knew what I wanted to do and being that my wife and daughter were there to cheer me on I was not sure what to tell them in regards to when I will finish. So my bright idea was to bring my phone with me and take pictures of mile makers and send them to her cell phone. Well that worked out great. She was able to take our daughter around to different places and do different things before I came down the home streach. I have attached some of the photos above.

Well I had a great time and I learn a lot about myself, what I can do and what I can accomplish. I felt like I had plenty of energy, the only thing was that my legs hurt.

So I will need to start to research on building up my leg muscles especially if I am going to commit to a full marathon or doing multiple halfs close together.

As far as entertainment on the course, well there was a band at the beginning, a band at mile marker 3 and a band at the end. There were a couple of locations were people were playing music through speakers, but I thought that there would be more live bands.

I will say that there was a lot of support on the course, but in the volunteers as well as spectators. There were obviously more in some areas (like the end) and less in others, but there was not one time when I looked around and said, "where is everyone?".

So will I do this again? YES! In fact, they have a "double challange". Run in Frederick and run in Baltimore and you can get a third medal. I think I am going to do that, well at least look into that.